Safe
by Akoolpoptart
Summary: A young girl is stranded out in the middle of the desert and struggles to stay alive. Will she live, or will she be consumed by the sands and cease to exist.


Evening came upon Hyrule as the sun had begun to sink into the Gerudo Desert, turning the white sand dunes a deep reddish hue as the night began to approach. The winds had begun to pick up for a strong storm front was approaching from the east creating a monstrous wall of red sand that tore through the small villages that were scattered across the desert. Most of the people had already boarded up their windows, sealed their doors and were inside their homes comfortably waiting out the storm by reading a book, painting pottery, or playing a game of mahjong to pass the time.

Yet one person was out in the middle of it. A lone girl, dressed like a one of the wild bandits that travelled across the sands and struck fear into anyone that dared to cross them. She had a horse, but when the sandstorm hit it had collapsed from exhaustion. She had to kill the poor creature herself with only the knife her guardian had given her before sending her off into this world. It was an extremely painful moment for her. She had grown up with the white horse ever since she was an infant. She cared for it like it was a child, she fed it, cleaned it, kept it company, sought comfort from it when she was upset. And when she had to drive the piece of steel into its head, she couldn't stop herself from crying. She cradled the dead animals head in her arms, weeping into its nose. Now the animal was somewhere in the desert, being consumed by buzzards, and sand.

As the storm got worse, she pulled her wool mask over her nose and adjusted the goggles that she had stolen from an engineer over her light blue eyes. She was tired and the weight from the sack that she was carrying began to take its toll. With each step she took her boots sank deeper into the sand and her legs began to buckle. She began to fear that the wind would blow hard enough that it would knock her off her feet and she would be crushed by the sack that carried most of what she owned.

She took another step forward and suddenly a large gust of wind knocked her off balance. She tried to regain herself but another gust of wind sent her tumbling down the side of the dune. She felt her ankle roll beneath her and pop as she and her bag hit the sand together. She stayed there for a moment as the dust from the sandstorm blew over her, feeling her heart beating against her ribs. Was she dead? She thought to herself.

She held a little sand inside of her palm and squeezed it, feeling the grains press into her skin; she came to the conclusion that she was still alive. She gathered her wits and swore, shaking off the pack to pull off her boot and examine her ankle, which had already swollen up to the size of her fist. She groaned as she rubbed the injury gently, fearing that she had broken it. She moved her foot, wiggled it a little and gave a sigh of relief, it was just a sprain. She stuffed her foot into her sock and back into the boot.

"Come Zelda, you can do this," the young princess told herself. Another gust of wind blew over her as she pushed herself off the ground. She dusted herself off and opened her bag and began going through her belongings, tossing a case of make up behind her, some dishes, clothing, anything that she could live without until all she had was food, a water pouch, a change of clothes, some jewelry that she intended to sell and the mirror her father had given her before she had fled the castle.

She pulled the little silver mirror out and gazed at her own reflection and saw someone she did not know. A thief, a fugitive, a killer, someone that she had never seen through this little mirror before in her life, yet she knew that behind the shemagh, the goggles, the baggy masculine clothing, she was none of that. She took a moment and ran a finger across the surface again before tucking it into one of the many pouches that she had tied around her legs. She closed the bag and slung it over her shoulder and started off again as her discarded items were swallowed up by the sands, never to be seen again. She frowned as she looked back and saw the items disappear, and it was then she wondered if she would suffer the same fate.

As night approached, she began to feel cold and started searching for shelter. She remembered what Impa had told her about the nights in the desert. That a person could potentially freeze to death if they didn't find shelter or build a fire quickly. So, as the sun set behind the dunes, she started telling herself, "I will not die here. I will not die here," over and over, urging her body to go forward. Slowly the cold air began to set in. She shuffled up one final dune before she fell to her knees, gripping her shoulders trying to pull her robe closer to her body to prevent whatever body heat she had left from blowing away. "I…W-will not d-die he-ere…" she breathed, but it was no use, this was the end of the line. She looked up and scanned the horizon, feeling that it would be her last time. It was such a beautiful night; the stars were so bright out here that they illuminated the entire landscape in a pale white light. She could see miles of sand dunes, rising and falling like waves across the desert plateau, some crumbling ruins far off in the distance rose out of the soil, a small abandoned village that was not to far away.

Suddenly her body was overwhelmed with energy that she burst forward, sliding down the dune and tumbling into its base. Zelda shook her head and sprang to her feet quickly and ran as hard as she could towards the village. All the pain in her body ceased to exist as her legs powered her across the sandy plain.

"Just a few more feet." She breathed.

She tripped over a tree root and fell face first into the sand. She quickly gathered up some of the branches and nearby brush and raced towards one of the buildings, bashing its wooden door in with her combat boot, blowing it off its weak hinges. She dropped the branches and brush into the middle of the house and shakily pulled out her flint and steel and began striking them together, creating a shower of yellow and white sparks that rained down onto the dead twigs until she had a somewhat decent fire crackling before her. She blew gently on the tiny flames until they grew large enough to support themselves.

She gasped, falling backwards onto the ground feeling the adrenaline dissipate inside of her. She crawled closer and stretched her hand towards the amber flames, feeling the warmth that they gave off being absorbed into her body, she smiled. She undid her mask, pulled off her goggles and shook out her long, tangled blonde hair as she leaned back against the wall and the bag between her knees. She opened it and pulled out some bread and cheese, nibbling on them hungrily, and drank a little from the water pouch then put the leftovers back into the bag, she was going to need them for tomorrow's journey. When she was done, she sat there watching as the fire started burning away the twigs in the middle of the room. Then suddenly she realized that this was the first time that she smiled all day. She scoffed and continued to watch the flames until her eyes began to feel heavy and her head started to droop. Finally she curled up in the wool robe and was fast asleep.

Finally, she was safe…


End file.
